Under the stars of Indiana: Rod treats fans to another spectacular evening

It is a hot summer evening in Noblesville, a town with a population of around 70,000 in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. By American standards, it was only a stone's throw for Sir Rod Stewart and his crew from their last venue near Chicago to the Ruoff Music Centre, where Sir Rod played his next concert of the 2025 US tour last night: just 179 miles to cover.

The sun was shining and it was warm in Noblesville when Rod and his team arrived: just under 30 degrees Celsius, with high humidity. This evening would once again be a sweaty affair for everyone involved.

Hours before the show started, fans made their way to the venue and waited patiently to be let in. As always in recent weeks, US rock band Cheap Trick opened the evening with an hour-long performance. A set of 14 songs, including, of course, the band's most famous song, ‘The Flame,’ quickly got the fans in the mood.

Then things got hectic on stage as the roadies quickly rearranged everything and prepared for Sir Rod's performance, which the more than 20,000 visitors were eagerly awaiting.

Punctual as clockwork, the 80-year-old took to the stage to loud cheers and screams from the audience, waved briefly to the crowd and got started.

Sir Rod did not spring any big surprises in Noblesville, instead relying on the song selection he had presented the day before in Chicago. So ‘The Motown Song’ from the 1991 album ‘Vagabond Heart’ made it into the ‘starting eleven’ again.

‘You have to give people what they want to hear,’ the Briton likes to say, and what people want to hear from him includes songs like ‘Maggie May,’ ‘Young Turks’ and ‘Have I Told You Lately.’

The set list that Sir Rod has put together over the last few weeks and months is a hit with the fans, featuring several big hits mixed with soulful ballads and magnificent cover interpretations by the band when Roddy Boy disappears behind the stage for a quick refreshment and a change of clothes.

The visitors to his concerts turn the shows into magnificent evenings, because in Noblesville, too, the fans were in an extreme party mood. Some in the audience may have thought back to their first kiss when they heard schmaltzy songs like ‘You're In My Heart’, while others felt transported back to the disco era when Sir Rod skilfully swayed his hips to ‘Da Ya Think I'm Sexy’, even at his rather tender age.

Hits such as ‘Tonight I'm Yours’ and ‘Stay With Me’ also carried the audience away. Who can sit still when the man on stage is pushing the accelerator to the floor?

When the ‘Love Train’ irrevocably headed for the end of the show after about two hours, some in the arena felt a touch of melancholy. It was supposed to be ‘One Last Time’ – was this really Rod Stewart's final appearance on stage at the Ruoff Center?

Certainly, after another rousing performance by the music icon, the majority of fans were hoping for a repeat and therefore went home with mixed feelings.

Set list:

1. Infatuation

2. Tonight I'm Yours

3. It's A Heartache

4. Rollin' & Tumblin'

5. It Takes Two

6. Forever Young

7. The First Cut Is The Deepest

8. Tonight's The Night

9. The Motown Song

10. Young Turks

11. Maggie May

12. I’d Rather Go Blind

13. Downtown Train

14. I’m Every Woman (band only)

15. If You Don’t Know Me By Now

16. You're In My Heart

17. Have I Told You Lately

18. Proud Mary (/Band only)

19. Da Ya Think I'm Sexy

20. Stay With Me

21. Some Guys Have All The Luck

22. Love Train